Snooper News 20090116

Please Note

A Little late ……… But Weekend is here !

Regards
Snooper

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THE ZAC SUTHERLAND UPDATE


Zac's Blog

My name is Zac Sunderland and I am 17 years old. I departed 14th June 2008 from Marina del Rey, California in an attempt to become the youngest person to circumnavigate the world alone by yacht.

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Further tales from our long haired solo sailor !


Photo : Jen Edney,
Caption : Well, that be ME !!!


Wednesday, January 14, 2009
East London - Zac

I spent the day I arrived in East London cleaing up the boat and catching up on lost sleep. It was hard to leave Durban and all the good friends I had made there over the past weeks. When the weather window opened though, I knew it was time to press on towards Cape Town. Overall I was happy with the trip to East London. Sure enough, once I got into the current I was hauling along under sail at times as fast as 9 knots! Pretty good for old Intrepid!

It was a bit of a trick mooring up alongside 3 other boats that were, in the end, tied up to a jetty. That evening I had a great dinner at Will's house. When I got back to the boat I crashed so hard that I slept through my alarm set for 3:00am so I could be a part of a PBS interview being done at the house. Sorry about that - hopefully, we can reschedule...

All is well here. Still checking the weather forecasts looking for the next weather window. There was a question asking if this is the last leg of my trip. My trip will end in Marina del Rey, California sometime in late May or early June. This leg was the first leg of several that will take me around the Cape of Good Hope though. My next stop will be at Port Elizabeth, then Mossel Bay and then on to Cape Town. This next leg to Port Elizabeth is pretty short - only 130 miles or so. I'm looking forward to getting there and seeing Marta to find out what happened there. I don't know anything more about that right now.

@John G. At this rate I'll probably arrive in Cape Town after my dad but he usually likes to have a few days to adjust to the time difference and get hooked up with the marine people in port so it should be OK.

@Lauren: I have been cold in my bunk at times but not recently because it is so warm where I am. I did get hurt a few times on my trip. Once when the boat lurched suddenly I fell across the boat and hit my arm on the counter in the galley. Another time a glass broke during a wild wave and cut my foot pretty badly.

@Brennan: I have seen sharks and whales in the Pacific Ocean but not so much in the Indian Ocean. Pretty soon I'll be in the Atlantic Ocean so maybe I'll see some there. I have not seen any black things in the water! I have seen sea turtles in Mexico but not on this trip. Sea turtles are funny because they have very bad eyesight. When you sail up to them they seem to be looking really hard at you trying to see what you are. When you are really close they suddenly swim away! That must be why there are so few of them left. Turtle soup used to be a favorite dish in Mexico!

Cheers,
Zac

posted by Zac at 10:39 AM


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Visit www.zacsutherland.com
YouTube Videos http://www.youtube.com/zacsvideos
Blog http://www.zacsunderland.com/blog/
Email zacsworldadventure@yahoo.com


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Mike Perham aged 16, the youngest person to sail across the atlantic solo now has his eye's on an even more adventurous challenge.

To become the youngest person to sail around the world solo in an open 50 racing yacht.


New Week, New Food Bag! - 15 01 09

The deck has become so salty in the last few days that just touching anything or sitting down anywhere leaves me covered in sticky salt crystals. This isn’t very pleasant as it leaves my skin feeling very itchy!

I started off the day as usual, with my daily check of the entire boat before attending to some odd jobs around and about. Little things, like creating a new system to hold the door in place and adding some foam protection to a few things here and there.

Today was also the start of a new week, so I've totally restocked the larder after opening up another food bag from the forward compartment. The further south I get, the more food there is in each bag, which is great as I love to munch away whilst sailing along. Nothing better than sitting on deck watching the spray while chomping my way through a packet of cookies!

A semi-squall hit us today; the wind increased from 21 to 29knots and we really started powering along, Totallymoney.com just loved it and leapt away without any resistance. We increased from about ten knots to a steady fifteen knots. It's usual to see these speeds whilst sailing downwind but not whilst sailing against it!

All in a good day, lots of jobs done, lots more food to be eaten and a bit of exercise for Totallymoney.com!

An update from the Sail Mike team - 15 01 09

We have been made aware that some people are having trouble viewing the Sail Mike 'Where in the world is Mike?' tracker when using Internet Explorer 7.

If you have been experiencing problems, it might be worth viewing the map through Mozilla Firefox instead of Internet Explorer. As far as we know there have been no problems reported with the tracker when using Mozilla Firefox.

Hopefully this will solve the problem!

Visit : http://www.totallymoney.com/sailmike/
Blog : http://www.totallymoney.com/sailmike/?cat=5

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Russians put out welcome mat on nuke missile
Melanie Gosling
January 15 2009 at 07:07AM

The docking of the nuclear-powered heavy missile cruiser Pyotr Velikiy in Cape Town marks the first time a Russian naval vessel has berthed in a South African port in more than 200 years.

Less than 20 years ago, the two countries were Cold War enemies, but it was all bonhomie and mutual compliments at the press conference on board the ship on Wednesday.

Admiral Rusty Hicks, from the South African Navy, and Rear Admiral Vladimir Kazatonov, from the Russian Federation Navy, almost outdid each other in saying how they admired each other's navy and looked forward to increased co-operation.

The ship, named after Peter the Great, is on its way from Venezuela, where it took part in exercises with the Venezuelan Navy, to the Indian Ocean to "perform some responsibilities", Kazatonov said.

These include helping to fight piracy off Somalia and offer protection to the merchant navy.

"The national forces are not capable of defeating piracy - I'm sure we can be part of the international effort to fight piracy," Kazatonov said.

He said the ship did not have nuclear weapons on board, in keeping with the agreement with the United States.

The deeply tanned captain, Felix Men'kov - the only person allowed to smoke anywhere on the ship, we learnt - took reporters and photographers on a tour of the vessel, rattling off the nature and number of an astonishing array of weapons.

The ship has a maximum speed of 30 knots, has two helicopters on board and, because it is nuclear-powered, can sail around the globe 50 times without refuelling.

"It is the biggest and most powerful ship of its type in the world," the captain said.

Commissioned in St Petersburg in 1995, the primary purpose of the 250-metre ship was to destroy cruise missiles and air and shore targets, and to accompany convoys at sea, Men'kov said.

The ship has torpedo tubes and can destroy a submarine at 40km. It has 20 attack missiles that can destroy a ship or land target up to 550km away.

Sailors in camouflage stood at mounted machine guns that fire 3 000 rounds a minute and are used to destroy any vessel that comes within the 200m exclusion zone around the ship.

"First we radio the vessel. If there is no answer, we will fire a warning shot. If they do not change course or reduce speed, we shoot to destroy."

There had been no need yet to do this.

The 12-deck warship is air-conditioned and has a library, sauna and small swimming pool for the crew of 980.

Crew who had shore leave were hurrying up the gangplank with shopping bags brimming with goods, from Coke to Weetbix.

A Russian warship has helped foil a pirate attack on a Dutch container ship in the dangerous Gulf of Aden, Sapa-AP reports.

Six pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades at the ship, which began evasive manoeuvres while calling for help, Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting centre in Malaysia, said.

The pirates chased the ship for about 30 minutes in the waters off Somalia, but aborted their attempt to board when a Russian warship and helicopter arrived, Choong said.

Russian naval spokesperson Igor Dygalo said a helicopter from the Admiral Vinogradov warship, which is patrolling off the Horn of Africa, fired at three speedboats that were trying to attack the Dutch ship. Three pirates were said to have been wounded.

One of the speedboats was halted near Yemeni waters and Russian teams boarded the others, finding ropes with grappling hooks and gas canisters, but no fishing equipment.

This article was originally published on page 1 of Cape Times on January 15, 2009
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=139&art_id=vn20090115053342600C473362

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Germany Suspends Controversial Ocean Fertilization Plan
Written by Timothy B. Hurst
Published on January 15th, 2009

Image: Hello, I am Bruce via flickr under a Creative Commons License

Bowing to pressure from environmental groups, the German science ministry has suspended a planned ocean fertilization experiment in the Southern Ocean and asked the researchers to commission an independent analysis of the project’s environmental impact before dumping anything in the ocean.


Even though the nearly fifty scientists and crew aboard the icebreaker Polarstern will reach their destination in the Scotia Sea by the end of this week, Nature News reports they will not be dumping the ship’s payload - at least not yet.

Scientists with the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) had planned to spread their 20-ton cargo of iron sulfate over a 300-square-kilometer study area to induce an algal bloom in nitrogen-poor waters. After the photosynthesizing plankton grows and absorbs carbon dioxide, researchers hope it will die and sink down to the seafloor. By stimulating algae growth with nutrients scientists hope to learn more about the feasibility of sequestering carbon in algal blooms.

But environmental groups claim that the experiment, called LOHAFEX, would violate a moratorium on ocean fertilization that Germany brokered last May and would fly in the face of a UN ban on ocean fertilization. The concern amongst some in the environmental community is that the ecological impacts of dumping large amounts of iron to stimulate an algae bloom are simply unknown.

Not surprisingly, scientists with AWI were completely taken aback with the public outcry against their plans but hope they can maintain their schedule.

Researchers from AWI reportedly hope to get the independent research submitted to the German science ministry within ten days, at which point they hope to win approval and move forward with the plan.

http://redgreenandblue.org/2009/01/15/germany-suspends-controversial-ocean-fertilization-plan/

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Crosby firefighter saves 10 workmen on burning ship

Jan 15 2009 by Mark Johnson, Crosby Herald

A CROSBY firefighter helped save the lives of 10 stranded workmen on the burning HMS Intrepid.

Dave Elliot, manager of the Crosby Road North station, devised his master plan on how to tackle huge vessel fires in October after being given permission to take his firefighters onto the ship to train.

His plan became reality last week when heat generated by workmen cutting up steel bollards ignited the ship’s insulation.

More than 60 firefighters and 17 fire appliances dealt with the Canada Dock inferno l ast Friday for five hours as the temperature reached almost 700 degrees Celsius, buckling the weather deck.

Special breathing apparatus and an aerial appliance allowed the firefighters to reach the workmen as foam quelled the blaze.

Dave, 39, told the Herald: “It took me one month to create the plan. I got in contact with the site manager at Canada Dock, Mick Taylor, and we then carried out some training sessions. We put risk assessments in place in the event of a real fire and they worked. I’m really made up with the way it went.

“Because Mick allowed us to train on the ship we knew if an incident happened on any ship we could deal with it.

“It was just coincidence that the fire occurred on the ship we trained on. The firefighters did an excellent job.”

A tagging system ensured the firefighters knew the workmen’s exact whereabouts, enabling them to locate them immediately.

Workmen were dismantling the ship for its steel to be recycled after the Ministry of Defence wanted to replace it with a modern version.

Ex-commando Mick Taylor, 48, said: “The safety plan ensured everyone got out alive.

“It worked really well and went very smoothly. At one point there were two people left and they were saved.”

After hatching the plan, Dave was backed by station manager of Kirkdale fire station Brian Welsh, 41.

Brian said: “It could have been totally different if there was no tally system in place.

“Ships are the worst places for fires because they are big metal boxes and once on fire they are very difficult and dangerous to deal with.”

http://www.crosbyherald.co.uk/news/crosby-news/2009/01/15/crosby-firefighter-saves-10-workmen-on-burning-ship-68459-22695419/

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Channel ferry grounded on wreck

A P&O cross-Channel ferry carrying nearly 400 people grounded in bad weather when the crew failed to detect a charted wreck, an accident report states. A paper chart marking the position of wreck off Deal, Kent, was on the vessel Pride of Canterbury. But the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) said that the chart was not referred to 'at the crucial time'.

The ferry suffered severe damage to its port propeller but was able to sail unaided to Dover on January 31, 2008. No-one was hurt and the ship berthed with the help of two tugs.

The report said that as the bad weather had temporarily closed the port of Dover, the ferry had sheltered in an area off Deal known as 'The Downs' before she ran aground. The wreck would not have been displayed on the ferry's electronic chart because of the settings in use at the time of the incident.

The officer of the watch was navigating by eye and with reference to the electronic chart but he was 'untrained in the use and limitations of the system'. The ferry's master had given verbal instructions on the geographic limits of the area in which the vessel was to wait.

The report said that as the vessel was approaching a turn, the bridge team became distracted by a fire alarm and a number of telephone calls. The ferry then overshot the northern limit of the safe area before the turn was started.

The MAIB said that the bridge team management was 'ineffective' and that there was no formal passage planning for the navigation of the vessel while waiting in The Downs. The information exchange at watch handovers was not performed in a systematic way and the vessel's position was not systematically plotted on the paper chart. The MAIB said that it had issued safety notices to ferry and other ship operators which detailed lessons learned from the accident.


Yachting Monthly, 15 January 2009
http://www.yachtingmonthly.com/auto/newsdesk/20090015102315ymnews.html

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World’s top three container ports confirmed

Singapore holds its number one spot amongst the world’s other top container ports – with Shanghai’s Shenzhen port failing to close the gap on Hong Kong, latest port figures show, according to Lloyds List.

Story By : Alan Peat
Date :1/15/2009

http://www.cargoinfo.co.za/newsdetails.asp?&newsid=7198
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Study Evaluates U.S. Maritime Policies
1/14/2009 2:41:13 AM

The Maritime Administration has issued a new study that evaluates the adequacy of current U.S. maritime policy to meet the commercial, economic, security and environmental needs of the nation over the next three decades.

The report titled, ìAn Evaluation of Maritime Policy in Meeting the Commercial and Security Needs of the United States,î was researched and prepared by IHS Global Insight, Inc., of Lexington, Mass.

The 72-page report finds that current U.S. maritime policy only supports Americaís domestic maritime trades and is not supportive of U.S. participation in the international trades. However, the study also advises that possible reforms in national policy may lend more support to the U.S. maritime industry.

Maritime Administrator Sean T. Connaughton said, ìIt is clear that marine transportation is the most important mode of transportation for future growth of the U.S. economy; but current U.S. policy does not seem to reflect the importance of this modeóand for America to succeed, it must.î

To help create a more robust marine transportation system, Administrator Connaughton continues to advise U.S. policymakers that government support of the freight transport system must anticipate and respond to potential shipping bottlenecks that cause delays and undermine regional and national economic growth. The main task for policymakers, he says, is to ensure that the maritime system will have adequate capacity and reliability to transport ever increasing volumes of cargo and numbers of people in an efficient and environmentally sound manner.

The full report and its findings are available online at Maritime Administration web site, www.marad.dot.gov.

http://sname.marinelink.com/snamestory.aspx?stid=214143

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ISS Expands in Southern China
1/14/2009 2:32:40 AM

Since the beginning of the year Inchcape Shipping Services has been attending vessels and providing professional boarding and agency services in the ports of Nansha and Huangpu in southern China.

Located on the Pearl River Delta, Huangpu and Nansha (the Greater Guangzhou Ports) are busy Chinese ports, handling the full spectrum of commodities and home to shipyards providing newbuild, repair and drydock services.

Southern Chinaís economic achievements are the result of a pioneering and proactive approach which has seen the region aligning itself with the central government's open-policy reforms. And the Pearl River Delta is southern Chinaís most powerful economic engine.

ISS China's General Manager, David Young said ìOur new offices in Huangpu and Nansha ports effective 1 January, coupled with our long-established experience of servicing vessels calling at Hong Kong, shows our commitment to understanding and responding to our customersí needs. This wider coverage we now have in the region means we can offer customers a much more comprehensive service. And ISS systems, procedures and processes are all being implemented to ensure a high level of service deliverables.

ISS Asia Pacific Regional Managing Director, Jan N. Lauridsen commented "This is an important move for ISS. By providing our own boarding, agency and marine related services in ports other than Shanghai, we seek to position ourselves as a strategic partner with our esteemed clients. And ISS will continue to expand its geographical footprint in the region in line with our long term strategy."

http://sname.marinelink.com/snamestory.aspx?stid=214137

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German HDW and British MFI to modernize Colombian Class 209 submarines

Tayrona & Pijao submarines of the Columbian Navy (Photo:Orozco)

10:30 GMT, January 14, 2009 Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft GmbH (HDW), a company of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems AG (TKMS), and MarineForce International LLP (MFI) signed a contract for two material packages for the maintenance and modernization of the Colombian Navy diesel- electric submarines “A.R.C. Pijao” and “A.R.C. Tayrona” end last year. The contract was signed between the HDW/MFI consortium and the Colombian Ministry of Defence.

HDW built the two boats in Kiel from 1970 and delivered them five years later to the Colombian Navy. Since then, the two Class 209/1200 boats have been subjected to two modernisation programmes at the shipyard in Germany where they were built. This new modernisation project will be carried out in Colombia by the state-owned shipyard COTECMAR in Cartagena. The scope of delivery by HDW and MFI encompasses the two material packages as well as support for COTECMAR with technical know-how.

The Colombian shipyard plans to conclude the project by the end of 2011. The modernized Class 209 will feature most recent technology, high combat strength, extraordinary battery payload and low signatures.

In order to increase their indiscretion rate, Class 209 boats may be equipped with a Fuel Cell or Stirling plug-in section for air-independent submarine propulsion. Such integration can be done during a regular midlife modernisation and leads to a considerable increase in submerged endurance. The first ships to receive this upgrade will be three ships of the Greeks Poseidon class Type 209/1200 under the Neptune II upgrade programme. They will be upgraded by cutting the boat in half aft of the control room and adding a 6 m plug with an 120 kW Siemens AIP system to the ship.

However, it is not yet released which kind of modernization the Colombian submarine will receive.

With 63 units contracted to date, the HDW Class 209 submarines represent the most successful non-nuclear submarine class in the world. In South America alone, submarines of this class are in service in seven navies. Her comprehensive mission profiles include not only maritime defence and conflict prevention, but also surveillance and intelligence gathering tasks. She is also ideally suited for special operation missions.

http://www.defpro.com/daily/details/218/

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Below the belt: Australian submarine chief in hot water over bikini gaffe
Was the skipper wrong to play along when asked if women wore bikinis it would help recruitment?

An Australian navy submarine skipper has got himself into, erm, hot water, by suggesting that attractive females wearing bikinis could reverse a recruitment crisis.

Commander Tom Phillips, appointed to the Australian navy's HMAS Farncomb last year, also joked that the submariner equivalent of the notorious "mile-high club" for people having sex in aircraft was the "going down club".

Now then, the original Reuters story says he suggested female sailors "should" wear bikinis, which isn't quite true. If we scroll down the story we find that, in fact, he was asked by Ralph Magazine: "If female sailors all had to be hot and had to wear bikinis, would that help recruitment?"

To which he responded: "It would certainly get the right demographic of young men in. I'm not sure how feasible it is, however."

Does that make it all right?

The defence, science and personnel minister Warren Snowden called the remarks "utterly unacceptable", while the Australian MP Bob Baldwin said: "If these comments are to be attributed to this newly appointed commander, I think it will go down as one of the shortest careers in naval history."

But Real Admiral Davyd Thomas, the deputy navy commander, said the Australian navy did not value "bodies over brains" as some angry women's rights groups have suggested.

Phillips was merely responding to a "flippant question".

"The commanding officer's response was not intended to be serious," he said.

The Australian blogger Amarinda Jones doesn't find it funny: "This is bloody stupid and it begs the question – if female sailors dress to attract male recruits, what do the male sailors do to attract women to enlist in the navy?" She writes: "I find it not only offensive to women in general but also to the members of the defence forces as it suggests they join under the influence of sex. Once again – as far as we have come as women, there is always some nitwit man trying to hold us back."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2009/jan/16/australia-navy-bikini-submarine

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Russian warship foils pirate attack on British ship
15.01.2009

The Russian anti-submarine destroyer "Admiral Vinogradov" has helped foil a Somali pirate attack in the Gulf of Aden. A British ship came under fire in a pirate attack, but managed to escape after a Russian warship came to the rescue, a maritime watchdog said Wednesday.

The pirates chased the British-owned and Dutch-managed vessel for about half an hour in the waters off Somalia but aborted their attempt to board after a Russian warship and helicopter arrived.

Pirates operating in the Gulf of Aden and along the Somali coast are currently holding 11 ships with 210 crew members as hostages, the Kuala Lumpur-based Piracy Reporting Centre said.

Source: www.afp.com

http://www.russia-ic.com/news/show/7674/

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Nigeria: Why the Maritime Sector is Suffering
By Amiwero
Andrew Airahuobho
14 January 2009

Lucky Amiwero is a frontline freight forwarder with vast experience in the maritime sector of the country's economy.

He is the President of Institute of Transport Administration and National President of National Council of Managing Directors of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents. In this interview with Correspondent, Andrew Airahuobhor, he spoke on why the maritime industry is suffering, the issue of congestion that has crippled business activities in the port sector and other issues, Excerpts:

Early last year, both the former Finance and Transport Ministers, together with maritime stakeholders, converged at Sheraton Hotel, Lagos to discuss on the issue of 48-hour cargo clearance. Almost a year after, both current Finance and Transport Ministers called all stakeholders together, to discuss the issue of congestion, which is not, supposed to have arisen if 48 hour cargo clearance were achieved. What is really the problem with the port sector?

I told you 48 hours is a mirage, you don't have the platform. You see, when you don't have electricity and you are you are driving all your things by electronically supplied process, how do you meet up? When you are talking about a platform, Ghana can talk about it because they have constant power supply, Togo can talk about it but Nigeria cannot. What is government doing? You are not providing infrastructure, no conducive environment, every minister will come in, talk and talk. Two ministers came, who were they? Most of them have never seen the ports before. One was from Central Bank, the other one came from Shell. America don't operate that way, we don't put the people that understands the port environment, if we put a man who understands the port industry, he will not go through learning, waiting for briefs. How can you imagine in 2001, we had congestion, 2004 same thing and 2008, another congestion. A minister came in and said 48-hours clearance without looking at what was on ground. There are a lot of things you must put on ground. You must know that procedures must be efficient. Now, after 48 hours clearance, we are now in congestion where we are giving ourselves 60 days to clear, so where is the 48 hours clearance? Is it realizable? A minister should come and have a a focus or goal, these ministers don't have any goal or idea, they sit back from trial and error, they leave. That is why the maritime industry is suffering. For instance, the new minister of transport is a pharmacist, he is going into a new terrain, so he must learn, most of the time he will make many mistakes and before you know it, two years have gone because the same people who are going to brief him are the same civil servants who have been benefiting from the system.

What could the National Assembly do in this regard?

We wrote so many letters to National Assembly, they are only talking about oversight functions. I pray that our children do not inherit what we are seeing today. When I was delivering a paper on cabotage to the National Assembly, I told them this cabotage is a paper cabotage, don't do it, they ignored it, now they are calling Lucky, what advise do you have so that we can benefit from cabotage. Why didn't you listen to me then? If you had listened to me then, you will not be talking about amending the cabotage. Cabotage is not working, nothing is working here. Why are we talking about 60 days in containers? It is because people want to sell auction for N250,000 and give it to their friends. We are saying don't do it, the people who own the containers are Nigerians like you, please give them time to clear their containers.

Importers have been severally blamed for abandoning their consignments in the port, thereby creating congestion. And the federal government has issued 60 days for the importers to come forward to pick their containers.

OK, now, I have a consignment since the past three weeks, they cannot position for examination. Some people have consignments for two months, they cannot transfer. How can you tell me somebody does not want to carry his goods when he cannot access his goods? They should not be telling those criminal lies because they want to sell people's containers.

60 days is to clear those goods that are completely with Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA). I continue to say the act has no relevance with import process today. CEMA is not in conformity with the realities on ground today. I think what the customs is supposed to do is to amend their law so it will be in tandem with the Kyoto convention. But now, you have an outdated law of 1958 and using the law to prosecute trade in 2008 and 2009. CEMA is an outdated law that is used by old colonial masters to prosecute trade and it is no longer relevant in our import trade today unless you have to amend it, change the situation and change the system. There is nothing called Bill of Sight. Bill of sight is what you have in CEMA and CEMA is telling you that customs can give you their own valuation, what we operate here is that there must be Risk Assessment Report (RAR). You cannot be operating two different principles and you are using another law to operate in a thing that is not there. The problem is that the port is not having a proper legal base. There are confusion, contradiction, overlapping jurisdiction and this is causing the congestion in the port and that is why the government had to come out with that decision

But is it possible to solve the congestion issue that has crippled business activities in the port, within the 60 days period?

Well, it depends if government is not playing games because a lot of things have not been trashed. You have people who are defending corridors there. The ministry, parastatal is defending corridors, the country will be suffering.

How do they defend corridors?

They defend corridors because they still continue in corruption. All of us are defending are defending corridors, trying to play games, that is the games we have been playing since 1999 till date. The port is still the same port, experiencing the third port congestion because of the type of people you have there. We are still having people who are just there benefiting from the port system that is the corridor they are defending. Every other country is moving but Nigeria is not moving. We have all what it takes, unfortunately, we don't have the infrastructure, and we don't have a legal system. 90 percent of our legal framework in the port is regressive. Who controls the port, nobody controls the port. The concession is not being controlled by anybody. Nobody controls the concessionaires, nobody controls the shipping companies. Up till today, a country like Nigeria doesn't have a commercial regulator. Anybody can just wake up and increase charges. Charges can create congestion. What you are clearing today for N10,000, the next minute, it is N150,000, where do you get the money? And the problem about international trade is that there must be predictability, it must be consistent and there must be facilitation. The Kyoto convention is very clear on that. When there is no predictability, there is nothing you call facilitation and the customs must change the way they do things now, they are no more revenue collectors, they are trade facilitators. We must facilitate trade. Government has been misadvised and this is what is bringing about the whole congestion. If you look at the port today, it is not properly run because we don't have a proper legal framework to operate the port. This is the first port in the world, you don't have properly defined functions of NPA, a properly defined function of the shipping companies and everybody just do what he feels like. Ghana, for instance, changed their CEMA in 2001. I noticed that they changed their CEMA in line with all the principles as contained therein. So, what is happening to this country? What is happening to the leaders? What is happening to the head? We pray that we have the right people at the helm of affairs. There are no structural changes in the CEMA, it has not been amended. Apart from schedule 1 and some few ones like NDLEA that was moved from CEMA and the import control that was moved from CEMA. So, you still have an old document that is archaic, colonial, of a British system. We got our independence in 1960; we are using a 1958 law. You have custom legal notice from one to 57, most of them are outdated. You don't operate a thing like that. The legal notice was changed since 1971; there is no new legal notice in custom. Some of them are talking about pounds; some are talking about things that do not exist.

Does it mean that the government considers the maritime sector less important?

It is the leadership. Look at Nigeria Ports Authority, you have a Managing Director there and you have a law that you cannot operate, what are you doing there? Look at NIMASA, from 1999 till now, it has been collecting money, what is NIMASA doing with that money? Is that how we are going to run this country? Is that what America is doing? Is that what Ghana is doing? You put people in position that they cannot really drive the economy. The port is in a very sorry state. For instance, Ghana ran their concession, packaged it where it actually reduced the casualty of labour. Our own, we have driven away most of our labour because there is no component in the law that allows you to do what you are doing. It is contract that we are using; we don't have any law for the concession.

But NPA explained before that the concession was backed by a provision in the law establishing the agency.

There is no portion there that gives NPA the power. The port concession is being driven by BPE not NPA. The contract is BPE, they only brought BPA/NPA and everything was done by BPE and what they have done is a contract, it is not a law. So is you go to a law court now, is it the contract you are going to bring or the law?

In other words, the concessionaires are not bound by any law

They are not bound by any law, that was why they pushed in the law in 2006 and it failed. Why did they push the law that time? Is that what other countries are doing? Other countries will amend or make their law in line with what they want. We have concessioned and we have not got the law.

Does it mean the concession was hurriedly done?

Everything they have done is in a hurry, that is why we are seeing the port like this. Why are we hurrying? We are a nation that controls the market, a nation that has a preferred status, a nation that is supposed to have a transshipment centre, a nation that is supposed to have a load centre. We have lost the transit, we have lost our load center, and we have lost everything. Imagine a country like Nigeria, the number of cargo that have been diverted to other ports of other countries. We have a problem whereby you are having what they call the mega ship, which can carry up to 10,000 TEUs, they cant come into this country where our draught is nothing to write home about, our facility is nothing to write home about. Even the few ports we have, we are still playing politics with them. People you put in affairs, most of them are playing politics. The throughput in the port was not as a result of the concession; it was as a result of the Common External Tariff (CET), because most of the duties are in zero percent. Machineries, raw materials are on zero percent, which is why you find an encouragement. Before now, in 2005, you have duty from five percent to 150 percent but the highest you have now is from zero to 35 percent. So, you find that it encourages import.

Does it mean concession has not improved anything in the port?

No, no, no. Concession has created lots of problems because it has increased cost. Maritime industry need to be reassessed, you must bring experts so that the port would change. When Ojo Madueke was there, he brought experts out and that was why you have things like decree 37, 38 and 61 that were changed. Madueke brought people Agbakoba, people like us and we midwife the system and the system was working very fine. If you look at Ojo Madueke's regime, it was one of the best. He looked at the ports and he had political will and he listened. Madueke will reply every letter you write.

What would you suggest as a practical solution to the crises in the port system?

One, legal problem must be solved. You find out that multiple agencies are there, you have decree 61 of 1999, which removed all the agencies from the port. Nobody is supposed to be in the port, other ones are supposed to come to the port when they are requested.

http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200901150593.html

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Euro MPs warn over UK ports rates crisis

Felicity Landon - Thursday 15 January 2009

HIGHER charges in UK ports as a result of the huge business rates bills hitting port occupiers could see cargoes move to other EU ports and force more goods to be transported by air, three Euro-MPs have warned.

In a letter to local government minister John Healey, Liberal Democrat MEPs Chris Davies, Fiona Hall and Diana Wallis, representing North West, North East and Yorkshire/Humber, have now declared their support for the campaign against the new rating system in ports and asked Mr Healey to reconsider its implementation.

“We are concerned that the impact of this revaluation will particularly threaten the competitiveness of the ports in or regions of the northeast, northwest and the Humber,” they said.

The MEPs said two issues concerned them in particular.

“First, we believe that the rating revaluation will bring about extra costs and thus an increasing burden for ports on the east coast of England,” the letter said. “We believe these rising costs will see competition being lost to other EU ports which are in direct competition, not least to Rotterdam. The evidence provided by research into maritime logistics is that port cargo handling charges is one of the key determinants of competitiveness.”

The second concern was that higher charges in UK ports would force more and more goods to be transported by air. “International air freight traffic has increased substantially over the past few years, particularly in the transportation of foodstuffs. Air miles increased by 31% in 2006 compared with the previous year and has grown by 37% since 1992. Air freight is the highest emitter of CO2 per tonne of food and is responsible for 11% of emissions.”

The government has so far refused to back down on the rates crisis that is hitting statutory ports around England and Wales, in which port tenants are receiving massive and unexpected bills backdated by three years because the Valuation Office Agency failed to carry out the necessary revaluations by 2005.

The subject will be raised in the House of Commons next Monday evening, when Labour MP and transport select committee chairman Louise Ellman has secured an end-of-day debate. She will have 20 minutes to explain the main points to MPs.

http://www.lloydslist.com/ll/news/euro-mps-warn-over-uk-ports-rates-crisis/20017608199.htm

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US, Israel Mull Intel Pact on Gaza Tunnels
Written by The Media Line Staff
Published Thursday, January 15, 2009

Israel and the United States are considering signing a memorandum of understanding concerning the smuggling of arms into the Gaza Strip, an informed source in Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) told The Media Line.

The bilateral agreement will attempt to give solutions to the trafficking of weapons from Iran via Sudan, Egypt and other countries, into the hands of Hamas in Gaza.

A report about the agreement was first published in the Israeli daily Haaretz on Thursday morning.

Aiming at reaching a quick signing on the bilateral agreement, Israel’s MFA dispatched its Director General, Aharon Abramowitz, to meet on Thursday with State Department and White House officials, The Media Line has learned from its source at the MFA.

Included in the proposed agreement is Israel’s demand that the U.S. call on the international community to stop Iranian weapons’ transfer into Gaza. As part of the international effort, Israel is calling for a joint international maritime effort to seize ships carrying weapons.

Israel also aims to establish intelligence cooperation with the U.S. that would identify the sources of weapons.

If reached, the agreement will also contain a clause calling for American and European commitments to the transfer of technologies to Egypt that would help it uncover tunnels emanating from its territory.

The Israeli move comes only few days before the swearing in of Sen. Barack Obama as the next U.S. president. Addressing the conflict in Gaza, Obama told CBS on Wednesday night he would act “from day one” to stop the violence between Israel and Hamas.

“We are going to take a regional approach; we are going to have to involve Syria…[and] Iran,” said Obama.

If Israel and the U.S. sign the agreement, it will bind the next administration

http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=23944http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=23944

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Piracy contact group launched

David Osler - Thursday 15 January 2009

SOME 24 countries and five organisations have come together at the United Nations to form the Contact Group on Piracy, charged with co-ordinating state and industry actions to tackle the problem of piracy in the Gulf of Aden.

The first meeting of the body, chaired by US assistant secretary of state Mark Kimmit, took place at the UN headquarters in New York on Wednesday, and follows from a UN resolution carried last month which authorises “all necessary measures” to deter the crime.

Attendees included NAT representatives from China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, the UK, the US, and the International Maritime Organization.

According to Reuters, the meeting established teams to organise better operational and information support for counter-piracy operations, as well as stronger powers to arrest, prosecute and detain pirates and to track financial flows related to piracy. A second session has been scheduled for March, in order to review progress and consider the admission of new members.

In a statement, the group noted “the primary role of Somalia itself in rooting out piracy and armed robbery at sea and the importance of assisting Somalia in strengthening its own operational capacity to fight piracy”.

After the meeting, Mr Kimmitt told reporters: “We believe that 2009 will be a year where we can turn this problem around if we come together as a group of nations working not simply the military aspect but the judicial aspect, the financial aspect, the industry aspect.”

Separately, a leading Japanese newspaper has reported that Japan may send a ship to join international anti-piracy efforts in the Horn of Africa region as soon as April, after an intense debate over whether this is possible in the light of the country’s post-world war two pacifist constitution.

A delegation from the Japanese Shipowners’ Association is said to have met defence minister Yasukazu Hamada and urged him to dispatch a vessel as soon as possible.

One option would be for the government to rely on a law used in policing waters near its own coasts to allow a naval vessel with a partly coastguard crew to protect Japanese owned or crewed ships elsewhere in the world, the Nikkei business daily said.

The government was also considering a new law that would enable it to protect non-Japanese vessels and broaden its use of weapons beyond self-defence, the paper said.

In September last year, Somalian pirates released a Japanese ship and its 21-member crew after a $2 million ransom was paid, three months after the vessel’s capture.

Meanwhile, pirates holding a Ukrainian-owned ro-ro loaded with tanks have dispensed with the services of local middlemen and commenced direct negotiations with the owners, according to reports from the region.

Faina, which seized in September 2008, is carrying 33 Soviet-era T-72 tanks and other weapons. The hijackers have lowered an initial ransom demand of $20m to $5m.

An associate of the gang told Reuters that the intermediaries were suspected of dishonesty. “Somali brokers had been delaying the process by reporting only half, or less, of the ransom being offered. So the pirates are now directly negotiating with the Ukrainians and we hope things will be better now. They are expecting more then $5m and the ship will be freed soon.”

http://www.lloydslist.com/ll/news/piracy-contact-group-launched/20017608173.htm

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US unveils plans for Joint Multi-Mission Submarine

By Richard Scott

15 January 2009

Anxious to put the unhappy experience of the Advanced SEAL Delivery System (ASDS) programme behind it, the US Navy has disclosed plans to procure a follow-on submarine-launched combat submersible to support the clandestine insertion and extraction of US Special Operation Forces (SOF) in non-permissive areas.

In a request for information (RfI) released on 30 December, Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) advised the industry of its intention to pursue the accelerated acquisition of a new class of host-submarine-launched Joint Multi-Mission Submarine (JMMS) to achieve an initial operating capability in Fiscal Year 2016. A class of up to three units is planned.

The ASDS programme was conceived in the early 1990s to provide SOF with a long duration, dry compartment submersible offering improved range, payload, on-station loiter time, endurance, habitability and communication/sensor capacity over legacy swimmer delivery vehicles. Westinghouse Electric Corporation's Oceanic Division was appointed as lead contractor in 1994; Northrop Grumman acquired this business in 1996 and subsequently assumed responsibility for the ASDS contract.

http://www.janes.com/news/defence/jni/jni090115_1_n.shtml

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Three Indians taken hostage by Somalian pirates
16 Jan 2009, 1225 hrs IST, PTI


VISAKHAPATNAM: Two months after the Stolt Valor hostage drama involving Indians, a ship has been hijacked by Somalian pirates who have taken three Indians captive after releasing Kenyan crew members.

A relative of one of the Indian sailors taken hostage said today that the ship M V Alpha Manyara was hijacked on January 9 near the coast of Kenya and the pirates were holding three Indians hostage after setting free eight Kenyan sailors.

"Among the 11-member crew, three were Indians and the rest were Kenyans. Only the Indians have been taken hostage," George, brother of sailor Palaswamy Sarvanan who hails from this coastal city, said.

"We were informed about the incident a day after the vessel was hijacked. After that, we have not heard from the company or the government. The company has declined to pay any ransom," he claimed.

Stolt Valor, owned by a Japanese company and carrying 18 Indian sailors, was released by the Somalian pirates after a huge ransom was paid by the owners on November 16.Three Indians taken hostage by Somalian pirates

VISAKHAPATNAM: Two months after the Stolt Valor hostage drama involving Indians, a ship has been hijacked by Somalian pirates who have taken three Indians captive after releasing Kenyan crew members.

A relative of one of the Indian sailors taken hostage said today that the ship M V Alpha Manyara was hijacked on January 9 near the coast of Kenya and the pirates were holding three Indians hostage after setting free eight Kenyan sailors.

"Among the 11-member crew, three were Indians and the rest were Kenyans. Only the Indians have been taken hostage," George, brother of sailor Palaswamy Sarvanan who hails from this coastal city, said.

"We were informed about the incident a day after the vessel was hijacked. After that, we have not heard from the company or the government. The company has declined to pay any ransom," he claimed.

Stolt Valor, owned by a Japanese company and carrying 18 Indian sailors, was released by the Somalian pirates after a huge ransom was paid by the owners on November 16.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/Three_Indians_taken_hostage_by_Somalian_pirates/articleshow/3987861.cms

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Regards

Snooper

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